In Cosmo's Shadow

By Kellie Fay

Disclaimer: Sonic, Shadow, Tails, Cosmo, and the others all belong to SEGA, Team Sonic, 4 Kids and other people not me.

Chapter 4

Hedgehogs With Issues

Sonic fled from Shadow's mind the moment he returned home that evening. Immediately he noticed a new structure in one of the trees twenty feet from his home. Shadow prepared to jump up into the trees to investigate when suddenly Rouge flew by carrying a bag.

"Hey Shadow," Rouge said cheerfully. "So are you done lifting for Tails?"

"What do you think you are doing?" Shadow asked her.

Rouge shrugged. "I thought I'd like a little roost here for a while. Don't worry you'll hardly know I'm here."

"You are not going to be here," Shadow insisted. "Don't you have a home near the Master Emerald?"

"I wanted a change of scenery," Rouge insisted. Shadow didn't buy that for an instant. It would take an act of Chaos for Rouge to abandon a gem even if it didn't belong to her.

"I don't know what you and Sonic are cooking up, but I don't need a baby sitter," Shadow insisted.

"Sonic? What does he have to do with anything?" Rouge asked. "Unless you want me to go fly by his house, and have a little chat with him."

Shadow seethed. "That's blackmail!" He accused.

Rouge simply smiled. "I like to call it creative persuasion.

Shadow glared at her then stormed into his home. There he fetched a drinking glass from his cabinet, filled it halfway with water and placed the flower from the Star tree into the water. Once his makeshift vase was ready he went into his separate room, and placed the single flower on the table. He sat down in the large comfortable chair and just watched the flower for a while.

After an hour he came out to see Rouge looking at him oddly waiting for him. "What were you doing in there?" She asked.

With a customary scowl, he turned to her and said, "None of your business."

Rouge shrugged and then asked. "Well what are we doing tonight?"

"We?" He asked.

"Well I could take a walk to see Sonic by myself, but I don't think you want that." Rouge said smiling.

Shadow groaned and took a deep breath, and resigned himself to a long night.

Naturally Rouge stayed late into the night. It wasn't until Shadow got into bed himself did he realize she did all that to keep him distracted. Shadow didn't know what to do about her. He shook his head and lay down on the bed hoping he would not dream tonight.

A strange fruity scent woke Shadow the next morning. He opened his eyes to find himself in his special private room. What am I doing in here? He asked. A feeling of dread fell over him instantly. He did still sleep walk. What could he do about this?

After some toast for breakfast, he went to go gather some supplies from the forest. On his front porch in a little cup made of woven leaves sat three of the flowers from The Star Tree in water.

Please don't tell me that I did that last night and I can't remember it! Shadow pleaded with himself. He didn't know what would be worse, getting caught picking flowers they don't want him to pick, or just getting caught sleepwalking period. Desperate for an alternative explanation Shadow scanned first the ground by the porch. He didn't see any tracks, not even his own. Now puzzled Shadow scanned the edge of the forest. Just for an instant his sharp eyes saw a flash of blue, yellow and bright red in the trees, and then nothing.

Cheese, Shadow instantly recognized the colors of Cream's little chao. And where the chao is his mistress isn't far behind. So Cream and Cheese broke protocol, and picked the forbidden Star Flowers. Shadow reached down, and picked up the little temporary cup. How in the world did they learn I liked the Star Flowers, and why would they pick them for me? Shadow debated reporting the little rabbit's faux pas, but considering that Cream chose to favor him, he decided not to say anything about it. He took the flowers inside, and placed them with their companion in his water glass in his special room. Only going back into that room reminded him that he woke up there this morning with no memory of how he got there.

I've got to get out of the house and clear my head. I mean what could go wrong in the middle of the forest?

Shadow should have known his day was going downhill from that moment on. Later that afternoon gathering nuts and roots in the forest he heard loud voices near the floating island. His ears better than anybody else could clearly Amy's loud voice saying something from above. Shadow wondered briefly why they were arguing when suddenly he heard his own name. Without thinking twice about it Shadow made a leap he knew Sonic couldn't even do, and landed squarely on the island. Once there he quietly crept closer to hear the conversation.

"Not open for discussion," Sonic's voice sounded angry and sharp. Sonic looked prepared for a fight. His quills pointed straight back and his arms were crossed over his chest looking crossly at Knuckles and Amy standing together on the lowest steps of the Alter of the Master Emerald. Between Sonic and the others Rouge sat on a nearby rock.

"Sonic, just answer the question, did you get hurt because you were fighting with Shadow?" Knuckles demanded.

Shadow winced wondering how Knuckles found out about that.

"No," Sonic insisted. Shadow couldn't help but be impressed. Sonic didn't intend to give anything away in his expression.

"Sonic, you have to stop protecting Shadow like that. Something happened between you two. Why did you get so nervous when Shadow spaced out like that? Amy asked.

Knuckles turned to Amy confused. "Shadow spaced out?" He asked.

"It wasn't anything bad" Sonic said flatly. Shadow knew Sonic talked more than that. He began to feel like Sonic deliberately kept his answers short to keep from saying too much.

Knuckles closed his eyes, and shook his head allowing his ruby quills to sway, and sighed. "Sonic I know when you invited Shadow to come with us you said you'd be responsible for him, but if something is really wrong with him we deserve to know!"

Sonic said what? His first reaction was that he didn't need anyone being responsible for him, but Shadow suddenly knew what Sonic and Rouge were both doing. They chose to play the part of an extra barrier between him and the others. When Amy accused Sonic of protecting him she was right to an extent. I know he's lying about the bruises. He's trying to keep me from hurting the others, but at the same time he's trying to keep the others from knowing that I could go off the deep end, and hurt someone. Sonic intends for him to be the only one getting hurt.

Rouge sighed. "It's called Post Traumatic Stress Disorder," she said sharply.

"That's a mouthful," Amy said. "What does it mean?"

For a long time nobody said anything. Sonic and Rouge exchanged a long serious look. Shadow almost felt like there were words going between them that he couldn't hear. Finally he heard Rouge say,

"Basically Shadow has been under a lot of emotional stress for a really long time." Rouge explained. "Ultimate Life Form or not, no one should have been put through the hell he's been though. Topaz once told me a lot of her friends that have been in really bad long term combat get it. They need a lot of time and a lot of help to deal with it."

Now Knuckles growled. "In other words we've got an unstable super powered hedgehog running around loose."

Shadow hated to admit it, but Knuckles was right. He shouldn't be alone loose among people. To his surprise Sonic snapped at the echidna.

"That's not funny Knuckles! It's not his fault. You don't know what he's been through!"

"Sonic take it easy," Amy said.

"You guys just don't know," Sonic said a little calmer. "Whether or not he wants to admit it, Shadow needs us."

"We should talk to Espio" Knuckles said. "A lot of that ninja stuff he does he says has to do with understanding the mind."

"If you want to go ahead," Sonic said. "But right now I think the important thing is giving Shadow his space, and helping him with the things he still can't remember. That's why I picked him up a little present for him."

Shadow didn't want to hear about the present, and he knew where Rouge was for now, so he jumped down off the island, and went home. To his surprise he found Rouge sitting on his front porch. "It wasn't what it looked like," she said.

"It looked like a bunch of people who say they're my friends were talking about me behind my back." Shadow snapped, glad to have someone around to take his own frustrations out on.

"Amy told Knuckles about the bruises Sonic had. No matter what Sonic would tell her she wouldn't believe him, so she dragged him to Knuckles. I dropped by when they really started going at it."

"I don't need you and Sonic protecting me," Shadow said sharply. "I can take care of myself."

"That's not the issue," Rouge insisted. She tilted her head slightly. Shadow wondered what went through her mind when she suddenly said, "You know if anything happens with you the others are going to blame Sonic. It was his idea to invite you to come with us."

Shadow heard the implication clearly in her tone. "It wasn't a unanimous vote?" He asked.

Rouge shook her head firmly. "It wasn't a vote at all. Sonic didn't even ask the others. While we were up at the Ark helping you Sonic told us he was going to invite you. He practically bowled everyone over with his opinion to make sure no one would argue with him."

Shadow wasn't sure he understood. While up at the ARK back in the human dimension, Sonic made the offer casually, and after some thought Shadow decided that Sonic's world would be better for him. The others didn't appear to have other opinions, and he always believed that the invitation had been by consensus. "Why?" Shadow asked.

Rouge shrugged. "You got me. Not that I argued with him, but that hedgehog must have had some reason. Knuckles asked Tails about it. He giggled, and said Sonic probably decided to adopt you."

"What?" Shadow snapped.

"I think it was some kind of in joke," Rouge said quickly putting a hand on Shadow's arm. "Knuckles laughed, and said, he should have known, and after that didn't argue with Sonic about it."

"I see," Shadow wondered if he could get Knuckles to tell him what the joke was. "Perhaps I should ask Knuckles then."

Coming Soon Chapter 5

A Visit to a Guardian

Shadow sighed, and turned to leave when Knuckles said, "Now can I ask you something?"

Shadow had a bad feeling he knew what Knuckles wanted. "It wasn't intentional." He said, bracing himself for Knuckles' reaction."

"You did fight with him," Knuckles said, sounding angry.

"It wasn't a fight," Shadow answered.

Knuckles didn't answer for a few minutes. Shadow wondered if he shouldn't leave when Knuckles said, "Okay then explain what happened."